Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Bihar

One word which kept ringing in my head during my trip to Bihar was "unapologetic". Everything I saw or heard was in its raw form. There was no tact or attempted sweetness.

The Auto rickshaws did not wait for you to move off the road, but somehow without scratching you, they will pass right through. Driver will turn his eyes towards you for a brief second and then spit the pan on the other side. "Chawtiya" was his assessment of me followed by peels of laughter from the other cramped passenger whose one butt cheek was hanging like an overgrown pumpkin. I did not mind. Neither did I revert. I just smiled and walked. It was around 9 am. The market was already bustling. We stopped at a dingy sweet shop. The owner was sitting on a tall stool as if he was judging a tennis match between Rafa and Federer. We asked him the rates of the plates. He just showed us in and indicated V with his finger as his entire mouth was overloaded with Pan induced Saliva. The walls were never painted since Jay Prakash Narayan had died and nobody cared. Every time the man sitting on the stool wanted to call any waiter he would press on a spine-chilling ringer, I literally jumped off my seat. Waiters just smiled. This was their daily routine, no apologies, no thank you's, just plain and simple, unapologetic Bihar.